Infant feeding in Queensland, Australia: long-term trends

Infant feeding practices were retrospectively ascertained in a random cohort of parous women (mean age 54.8 years) from Brisbane, Australia. Reported proportions of infants who were ever breast-fed fell from around 90% before 1960 to around 70% in the early 1970s, with some subsequent increase. Similar but stronger trends were reported in proportions of infants breast- but not bottle-fed. Few maternal characteristics were associated with feeding practices, but women with more education appear to have led both the early retreat from and the later return to breast-feeding.